TLED Frameworks to Address Changes for Senate Bill 17
In June of 2023, the 88th Texas State Legislature passed and signed into law Senate Bill 17 “relating to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives at public institutions of higher education.” The law goes into effect on January 1, 2024, and amends Texas Education Code 51.5325 effective January 1, 2024.
Departments across Austin Community College (ACC) are collaborating on approaches to address the necessary changes to implement the bill’s requirements. While the law has restrictions, there are a number of activities that are still permissible.
ACC will always support a culture of kindness, civility, peace, non-discrimination, and continue to be responsive and give voice to the needs of all students, faculty, staff, and the greater ACC community.
Frameworks for Change
Overview
The Office of Academic Technology provides faculty- and student-facing services to support the use of instructionally-embedded technology. In the development and execution of training programs and the offering of our services, we pride ourselves on our non-discrimination efforts, ensuring access to our programming and services for all faculty, staff, and students. In light of SB17, all Academic Technology teams have reviewed existing support documentation, training outlines, and produced content to determine what changes are needed to comply with the law ahead of its implementation on January 1. Any changes that have been identified will be completed before the end of 2023.
Curriculum Management has reviewed its services and resources, including the 2023-24 ACC Catalog & Student Handbook, to ensure compliance with Senate Bill 17 requirements. No changes will need to be made to content or processes.
Faculty Communications has reviewed its services and resources that include the TLED website and Faculty Handbook. Faculty Communications collaborated with TLED leadership and teams to apply updates where needed to comply with SB 17.
Beginning in late Spring 2023, the Office of Faculty Development and Evaluation began discussions regarding the possible impacts of SB 17 with a host of colleagues and the discussions included ACC administrators from the Office of DEI and Human Resources staff. Faculty Development supported and co-facilitated an open forum focusing on SB 17 during the General Assembly afternoon sessions and a subsequent meeting requested by the Dean of Liberal Arts – Social and Behavioral Sciences. We also reviewed published guidelines from some of our partner higher education institutions in Texas, Texas A & M University, and the University of Texas. We are currently awaiting recommendations from Senior Leadership, Legal Counsel and/or the Chancellor. Additionally, we are also waiting for the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) to formulate its auditing criteria. In the meantime, we have begun to review and revise several of our Faculty Development events, programs, and workshops in an effort of remaining compliant.
The Office of Experiential Learning reviewed all web pages, marketing, and training materials for references to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. The references were all related to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) Career Readiness Competencies. These are the “soft skills” that employers expect all college graduates to have prior to seeking employment. These eight competencies are: critical thinking, communication, teamwork/ collaboration, digital literacy, leadership, professionalism, career and self development, and equity and inclusion. The spirit of the inclusion of E&I in the career readiness concerns maintaining harmony in the workplace, as well as breaking down established patterns of preference in some institutions. For the purposes of instructing our faculty about what employers are expecting of their students in internships, service learning, and apprenticeships, we are replacing all references to “equity and inclusion” to “intercultural fluency.” With input from other institutions of higher learning from Texas and around the country, we have drafted the following definition:
Intercultural Fluency is the ability to engage and include others from diverse cultures, proactively develop a culture of belonging and respect, and to seek to understand individual differences.
Our plan is to replace all references to the E&I competency with Intercultural fluency in our faculty training materials, marketing materials, and throughout our website. I am also contacting NACE to request a larger discussion as we include links to their website in our training materials.
In response to SB17, ACC Library Services (LS) is undertaking an evaluation of the scope of related activities, policies, and employee assignments. First, the LS Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion team will be disbanded as of December 11, 2023. Trainings and symposiums developed by this team will be removed from internal sites and will no longer be required of LS staff. Second, collection development policies and activities will be reviewed as there are unknowns around the academic freedom availed to academic libraries in this area. Finally, the LS mission statement has been revised to include language that aligns with SB17. Hiring practices are also impacted, but that evaluation and subsequent instructions to all of ACC will be handled by the Human Resources department. Areas of LS not impacted by SB17 include faculty librarian instruction on information literacy, book displays, programming, and collaboration with other departments around topical celebrations and acknowledgments.